...
{3rd Pov}
The next few days passed in much the same manner.
They traveled during the day, camped at night, enjoyed Flugel's cooking, and occasionally discussed magic or other topics around the campfire.
Without encountering any major incidents along the road, they eventually reached their destination, the Kingdom of Charsis, where the grain transaction was scheduled to take place under the leadership of Crown Prince Farsale.
Charsis was known as a nation with an abundance of agricultural land and consistently produced a surplus of grain.
Although it was not considered one of the great military powers of the continent, its importance could not be underestimated. Rather than relying on military might, the kingdom survived and prospered through trade, maintaining strong commercial relationships with neighboring nations such as Magrizza, Lugunica, and Shatzbort.
As their carriages passed through the gates and entered the capital, Flugel quietly gazed out the window with obvious curiosity.
No matter how many fantasy cities he had already visited since arriving in this world, witnessing another one still felt like a novel experience.
The architecture was obviously a bit different.
The clothing worn by the citizens differed slightly from that of Lugunica.
The markets were filled with unfamiliar goods, while merchants loudly advertised products unique to Charsis.
Even the atmosphere of the city felt different.
Flugel found himself observing everything with genuine interest.
Meanwhile, Echidna sat quietly beside him.
She was completely absorbed in reading her Tome of Wisdom aka Tome of Flugel, studying it with the devotion of a religious fanatic reading a sacred scripture.
Every now and then she would pause, contemplate something for several seconds, then continue reading with even greater concentration.
To anyone watching, she looked as though nothing else in the world existed.
On the opposite side, Reid let out another loud yawn.
The Heavenly Sword had grown thoroughly bored during the journey.
There had been no worthy opponents, no monsters to fight and no bandits foolish enough to attack them like some cliche trips that Flugel had read happen almost in every isekai manga back then with a transmigrated protagonist.
Nothing remotely entertaining.
As far as Reid was concerned, the past several days had been painfully uneventful.
Thankfully, it did not take long before they arrived at the Royal Palace of Charsis. After the carriages came to a stop within the palace grounds, everyone stepped outside.
A group of royal messengers and attendants was already waiting for their arrival, and after exchanging a few formal greetings, they respectfully escorted the delegation through the palace corridors toward the Royal Hall, where the King of Charsis awaited them.
Upon entering the hall, Farsale stepped forward.
“I, Farsale, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Lugunica, greet the King of Charsis,” he said with a respectful bow.
It was not an overly deep bow, but one appropriate for a prince greeting another sovereign.
Behind him, Flugel and Echidna bowed more deeply, observing proper etiquette as guests within a foreign kingdom.
Reid, meanwhile, did nothing of the sort.
Instead, he simply cracked his neck with an audible series of pops before looking around the hall as if searching for something interesting.
Several guards visibly frowned.
The King of Charsis, however, merely laughed.
“Welcome! Welcome!” the King said warmly as he spread his arms wide. “Prince Farsale and his companions, welcome to my humble kingdom! Your journey must have been tiring, so I have already prepared a feast in your honor!”
His hospitality appeared genuine and without wasting any more time, he gestured for everyone to follow him.
“Come, let us continue our discussions after a proper meal.”
The group was soon led toward the royal dining hall.
Servants had already arranged an impressive banquet upon the long table.
Various roasted meats, freshly baked bread, soups, vegetables, fruits, and expensive wines had all been carefully prepared for the honored guests.
The aroma alone was enough to make several attendants swallow unconsciously.
Before touching any of the dishes, however, Flugel quietly activated the Eyes of the Enlightened One then his gaze swept across every plate on the table.
After confirming that the food was completely safe, he calmly took the first bite.
Seeing Flugel begin eating, Reid immediately followed without the slightest hesitation, as the Heavenly Sword enthusiastically began attacking the banquet.
The surrounding servants watched the scene with complicated expressions.
Thankfully, the King of Charsis seemed more amused than offended.
After the feast concluded, Farsale and Reid were escorted to a more private chamber where they could discuss the details of the grain agreement with the officials of Charsis. Matters involving trade, prices, transportation, and future cooperation required privacy, leaving Flugel and Echidna with nothing to do for the time being.
Rather than remaining inside the palace, Flugel decided to head out on his own and explore the capital.
He deliberately left the Witch of Greed behind as he had his reasons.
If Echidna accompanied him, she would spend the entire time asking questions, recording observations, or dragging him into another discussion about magic. For what he intended to do, it was far easier to move alone.
After leaving the palace grounds, he gradually made his way into the bustling marketplace.
Merchants were loudly advertising their goods, with customers bargaining over the prices and children ran through the crowded streets.
The smell of freshly baked bread mixed with spices and roasted meat filled the air.
At first glance, it looked like an ordinary, peaceful city.
Flugel continued walking without drawing attention to himself.
Every now and then, his gaze settled on another passerby.
Then another and another.
No matter who he looked at the result never changed.
His Eyes of the Enlightened One had continued evolving over time and compared to before, they had become significantly stronger and among the many things they now allowed him to perceive was the fate of other people's lives.
More specifically their deaths.
At first, he assumed what he was seeing was merely a coincidence.
So he kept walking.
He observed every passerby.
It did not matter who they were.
The outcome remained exactly the same.
Every single person he looked at was destined to die pretty soon, having the death dates within a span of seven days near each other.
Flugel spent even more time wandering through different districts of the capital just to make sure he was not making a mistake, though a part of him had already guessed the answer, making him wonder why he even continued? Still perhaps out of desperation he checked wealthy neighborhoods and poorer streets.
He observed people from every walk of life.
The answer never changed.
Only then did Flugel finally stop walking.
He silently looked across the lively marketplace once more.
People were laughing, merchants argued over prices and of course children chased one another through the streets.
Nobody had the slightest idea that, according to his eyes, every single one of them would be dead soon within a span of seven days from several months in the future.
At that moment, Flugel understood.
This nation was already doomed.
Its destruction had already been decided and there was nothing within his vision to suggest otherwise.
A complicated expression appeared on his face.
Sometimes, he felt that the Eyes of the Enlightened One were becoming less like ordinary eyes and more like those of a Buddha.
They no longer merely observed the present.
They calmly witnessed the inevitable.
He could already perceive the soul of every living being he looked at.
More than that, he could even see the movements they were about to make before their bodies actually performed them.
A person's soul always moved first, followed by the body itself roughly five seconds later. It was one of the many frightening abilities granted by the Eyes of the Enlightened One. And now, on top of all that, his eyes had gained the ability to perceive when someone would die.
However, while observing the countless souls around him, Flugel noticed something else.
His Eyes of the Enlightened One which had evolved had some sort of invisible connection had formed between his eyes and one of his Authorities.
More specifically, the Authority of Lust or perhaps it was not the Authority itself, rather it was directly connected to the Witch Factor instead.
Flugel could not determine the exact answer.
He had tried investigating it himself.
Several times, in fact.
Whenever he attempted to peer into his own soul using the Eyes of the Enlightened One, an intense headache immediately assaulted him, which was already a problem but whenever he attempted to look directly at his Authorities, all he could perceive was endless darkness.
A pitch black void.
No matter how hard he focused or how much he tried...
Nothing became visible.
It was impossible to tell what was actually happening within them.
Still, despite being unable to observe the process directly, he could sense that something was changing.
His Aura, and Ki and the Authorities born from the Witch Factors.
Or perhaps the Witch Factors themselves.
It almost felt as though all of them were gradually beginning to merge together.
Which naturally raised an important question.
Was that even supposed to happen?
Then a ridiculous thought suddenly crossed his mind.
'Does that make me some sort of Demon King just like how Echidna suggested?'
Another term appeared in Flugel's mind.
'Demonic Buddha.'
A Bodhisattva who attained Enlightenment through a path completely opposite to that of Shakyamuni, the Enlightened One.
He remembered a similar concept from the Fate series, where the Enlightened One stated that the path he took to become a Buddha was merely one of countless ways a human could attain Buddhahood.
According to that idea, all beings, whether evil or good, murderers or people who had never even hurt a fly, were walking the path toward Enlightenment and would eventually reach it.
However, Flugel found it difficult to believe in such a concept.
As far as he understood, it completely contradicted the teachings of Buddhism, or at least the Buddhism established by Shakyamuni.
Instead, it seemed to follow something much closer to the path of... Dao?
‘What next? Concept of Brahman and God Almighty pop out as well?’ Flugel discarded the train of thought almost immediately. In the end, the most important thing was preserving the integrity of the timeline. He needed to fool the world into believing that he was the original Flugel and that everything was unfolding exactly as it was supposed to.
Which unfortunately meant he had to stand by and watch these people die.
Otherwise, time itself might collapse.
Zero knew he could not save everyone.
He was not omniscient and even with the Eyes of the Enlightened One, there were still countless things beyond his knowledge and countless events beyond his control.
Still, whenever he saw someone he could help, he tried to do so.
That was simply the kind of person he was.
And now, after seeing that tens of thousands of people were destined to die within the next seven days, he could do absolutely nothing.
He stopped walking in the middle of the street.
He had always been forced to make difficult decisions.
Right or wrong.
Again and again.
He never truly knew whether the choices he made were completely correct or completely mistaken.
He simply chose a path and accepted the consequences that came with it.
Yet this time, by choosing not to act, he would be committing a sin of his own.
‘I guess a mortal should never gain omniscience,’ he thought wryly to himself.
After letting out a quiet sigh, Flugel resumed walking.
Rather than continuing to wander aimlessly through the city, he headed toward a nearby tavern, hoping that some good food would at least help clear his mind for a while.
He also wanted to find out what kind of dishes the people of this nation usually ate.
After ordering a unique type of bread along with what appeared to be a fruit soup, or whatever it was supposed to be called, he quietly took a seat and waited for his meal to arrive. At the same time, he casually listened to the conversations around him, hoping to pick up any noteworthy news or information.
“I heard the nations of Omoye and Barissta have started a war,” a man at a nearby table said, immediately catching Flugel's attention.
“A war?” the person sitting across from him asked in shock.
“Yeah, my brother is in the army, so he knows,” the man replied confidently. “Apparently it all started because of some woman they call the Goddess. Both kings have become completely smitten with her, and now the two nations are fighting over her.”
Flugel quietly listened while pretending to mind his own business.
It did not take him long to understand what was happening.
‘So it's Carmilla...’ he thought.
The description matched her far too well.
‘I suppose Omoye and Barissta are closer to Charsis than Lugunica is. The news should only be reaching Lugunica around now, or perhaps it arrived shortly after we departed.’
He silently pondered the situation.
A war caused by Carmilla's existence was hardly surprising.
In fact, considering her Authority and appearance, it was almost inevitable that something like this would happen sooner or later.
He did not hear anything else particularly interesting.
In the meantime, his order arrived, so he began eating.
The bread was surprisingly soft with a pleasant sweetness to it, while the soup was also sweet, seemingly made from berries or whatever equivalent fruits existed in this nation. To his surprise, Flugel genuinely liked the taste.
As he quietly enjoyed his meal, the tavern door suddenly burst open with a loud thud.
“Everyone! Look what I've got! Your great inventor Hoshin has created the Knifepoon! With this beauty, you can both cut your food and drink your soup!” a boisterous voice shouted, interrupting everyone inside the tavern.
Several customers immediately frowned.
“There goes Hoshin and his useless inventions again,” someone muttered with a snicker.
Hoshin clearly heard the complaint, yet he paid it no attention whatsoever.
Instead, he walked straight toward the counter with a wide grin on his face.
“Maria, bread and soup please,” he said to the waitress.
The woman immediately glared at him.
“You still haven't paid for your last ten meals!” she hissed, crossing her arms.
Hoshin scratched his cheek awkwardly.
“I will pay! I'll pay! Just let me demonstrate my latest invention first! Please! Once I make it big, I'll pay back every single coin I owe you, Maria,” he pleaded in a pitiful tone.
The waitress simply continued staring at him with an expression that clearly said she had heard the exact same promise far too many times before.
“Not again...” Maria sighed before clicking her tongue in annoyance. “Fine, but if you don't pay this time, you're done for!”
The man nodded enthusiastically as if he had taken her warning to heart.
Meanwhile, several people around the tavern burst into laughter.
“Didn't you say that about seven times already, Miss Maria?”
“Yeah, I think this guy is just a freeloader! He keeps showing up with these bizarre inventions that nobody is ever going to buy and somehow believes he'll become rich!”
Maria immediately turned toward the second speaker.
“You there! Haven't you also failed to pay for your last two meals?” she shot back angrily. “If you want to make remarks like that, at least take a good look at your own situation first.”
The man immediately fell silent.
“...”
“That's what I thought.”
Another customer leaned over and chuckled.
“Leave it, man. You know that idiot is her childhood sweetheart.”
The moment those words were spoken, the surrounding customers exchanged knowing looks before quietly dropping the subject.
Maria's face reddened slightly, though whether from embarrassment or irritation was difficult to tell.
Meanwhile, the person at the center of the conversation remained completely unfazed.
“Uh, yes! Allow me to introduce my newest invention!” Hoshin declared with a wide grin, completely ignoring the awkward atmosphere around him as though none of the insults had ever been directed at him in the first place.
His enthusiasm remained as bright as ever.
To him, the opinions of the crowd seemed to matter far less than the excitement of showing off his latest creation.
“The Knifepoon!” Hoshin announced proudly. “With this side, you can cut your bread!” he said while demonstrating the flat bladed side of the utensil. Then he pointed toward the bent spoon on the opposite end. “And with this side, you can enjoy your soup! I even added pointed edges like a fork, so it can be used for even more kinds of food!”
To prove his point, he scooped up some soup with the spoon end and drank it.
“See? This is revolutionary!”
However, the moment his demonstration ended, the entire tavern erupted into laughter.
“'This is revolutionary!'” one man repeated mockingly, imitating Hoshin's tone.
Another customer immediately chimed in.
“The knife side is sharp! What if someone accidentally cuts their hand? Or worse, their mouth while trying to use the spoon?”
“You just need a little practice so that doesn't happen!” Hoshin argued, trying to defend his invention.
Unfortunately, nobody seemed convinced.
“Another useless invention!”
“Seriously, just give up on your dreams.”
“Who would even buy something like that?”
“One tool trying to do everything usually ends up doing nothing well.”
Comments began flying from every direction.
One after another, the customers criticized his creation without holding back.
Hoshin's confident grin gradually faded.
His shoulders slumped slightly as he began realizing the flaws everyone was pointing out.
Even if he wanted to argue, he could not completely deny their concerns.
The sharp edge really did make the spoon awkward and potentially dangerous to use.
For the first time since barging into the tavern, his enthusiasm visibly deflated.
Maria sighed before speaking again.
“Come on, don't waste the food and just eat. And remember, you still have to pay, okay?!”
Although she tried to sound stern, anyone paying attention could tell that she simply wanted to make sure Hoshin had a proper meal.
“I... Yes,” he replied quietly.
Slowly, he walked over to an empty table and sat down before beginning to eat.
In fact, despite everything that had just happened, he still chose to use his own invention.
It was almost as if he wanted to prove that the Knifepoon could actually be used or perhaps he simply refused to give up on it.
As he continued eating, he gradually picked up the pace, seemingly hoping to finish his meal as quickly as possible and leave before he embarrassed himself any further.
Then...
“Ow!”
Hoshin suddenly yelped.
The sharp edge of the Knifepoon had nicked the corner of his lips, and a few small droplets of blood trickled down.
For a brief moment, the tavern fell silent.
Then everyone burst into laughter.
“Haha! I guess he's finally getting a taste of his own invention!”
“Literally!”
More laughter echoed throughout the room.
Hoshin said nothing as he simply tightened his grip around the Knifepoon.
At that moment, he wished he could disappear from the tavern altogether.
Every pair of eyes seemed to be fixed on him and every laugh felt directed at him.
Yet despite that, he did not get up and leave.
He did not want to waste the meal Maria had kindly given him even if he already knew there was no way he would be able to pay for it.
So, he set his invention down on the table and continued eating with his hands instead. He refused to touch either the wooden spoon or the knife provided by the tavern, yet he also refused to pick up his own invention again, as though he did not want to humiliate himself any further.
At that moment, Flugel quietly stood up from his chair.
Without saying a word, he walked over to the empty seat beside Hoshin and calmly sat down.
At first, nobody paid much attention.
The tavern had already returned to its usual chatter.
It was only after Flugel took the seat that Hoshin finally noticed the man beside him.
The stranger wore a dark robe that concealed most of his face beneath its hood.
Only a pair of golden eyes could be seen shining through the shadows, accompanied by a faint smile resting upon his lips.
Without saying anything, Flugel slowly reached toward the Knifepoon lying on the table.
Hoshin noticed the movement and let out a small, self mocking chuckle.
“Want to make another remark?” he asked with a bitter smile. “I already know it's a failure.”
There was no anger in his voice.
Only resignation of someone who had already expected what should come next, and the confidence he had entered the tavern with had long since disappeared.
“Not that,” Flugel replied calmly.
As he picked up the Knifepoon, it suddenly began to change shape.
Right before Hoshin's astonished eyes, the single utensil slowly transformed into two slender sticks of equal length.
Hoshin's eyes widened in disbelief.
Without saying anything else, Flugel positioned the two sticks in his fingers.
“Why don't you hold them like this?” he said, demonstrating the proper way to grip the chopsticks.
His movements were smooth and natural, as though he had performed them countless times before.
Then, after picking up a piece of food with ease, he placed the chopsticks on the table in front of Hoshin.
“And why don't you give them a try?” Flugel asked, a faint smile playing across his lips.
For a brief moment, Hoshin simply stared.
Ideas began exploding inside his mind one after another.
Two separate sticks when used together are better than one stick.
If they could be manipulated independently while still functioning as a single eating utensil...the possible applications immediately started multiplying in his imagination.
His breathing unconsciously became a little faster.
“W... Who are you?” Hoshin asked as he abruptly stood up from his chair.
His expression was filled with shock.
His hands instinctively reached toward the chopsticks before stopping halfway, as though he was afraid they might disappear if he touched them too quickly.
Flugel simply looked at him with the same calm expression.
“A man from a faraway land,” he replied neutrally.
To be continued...